Airport fuel check documents falsified
After employee resigned in '03, sumps not checked
BY PHIL REYNOLDS SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

City Manager Michael Kovacs has been told to tighten up management at Mustang Beach Airport after he reported on Thursday, Feb. 21, that aviation fuel at the airport got contaminated because the fuel tank hadn't been inspected as it should have been.

The contaminated fuel, discovered during a regular check of the fuel system, could have had serious consequences if it had been pumped into an airplane. However, Pat Garrett, executive assistant at city hall, said the bad fuel was in the bottom of the tank; fuel is pumped from the top layers, she said.

An "out of order" sign has been posted on the airport fuel pumps since the problem was discovered, she said.

At issue was checking the sumps, or compartment in the tank designed to collect contamination. Kovacs said the previous person assigned to check the sumps had resigned in 2003, and they apparently hadn't been checked since then.

Documents showing the checks were made had been falsified, Kovacs said.

"They were signed when the actions were not taking place," he told the council.

"That's grounds for termination," said Councilman Charles Bujan.

"We have a pending disciplinary action of a significant nature," Kovacs agreed, although he said the range of possible actions is "wide."

The employee charged with checking airport fuel sumps works in the city's public works division, he said. He declined to identify the worker by name.

Admitting that ultimately, he is the airport manager, Kovacs said the city has "fragmented airport management." He said Garrett handles part of the airport management and that the city's Parks and Recreation Department does weed eating and Public Works handles mowing.

He said an estimated $10,000 worth of unusable aviation fuel remains in the tanks. The city is looking for a way to re-use that fuel, perhaps in vehicle engines.

Former Airport Board president and current Councilman Keith Donley agreed that "tremendous progress" has been made at Mustang Beach Airport, but he said the city has no accountability associated with its maintenance.

"We have a lighting system at that airport that's like a glide slope, and for several months now I've reported it out, and nothing has been done," Donley said. "For some time I've talked about something as simple as a FOD (Foreign Object Damage) control. Every airport I've been associated with, somebody drives that runway every morning to make sure there's no foreign object on it, because if somebody hits something like that and runs off the runway -- I defer to (City Attorney) Mike Morris, but I think a first year law student could win that case. I consider the airport one of our greatest sources of liability, and that's it in a nutshell."

San Antonian Steve Heymann, who said he flies to Port Aransas nearly every weekend, agreed.

Heymann, who landed his plane at Mustang Beach Friday afternoon, said he's been complaining for months that the credit card system doesn't work at the airport.

"I told city hall about it, and they said, 'Our card works'," he reported.

"I told them, 'Well, you don't own an airplane'," he said.

Heymann said he gathered some friends with 15 different credit cards among them and tried them all at the Mustang Beach Airport fuel pump when it was working. Only three of the cards were accepted, he said.

"The city said they were selling fuel out there," he said, "but they sure weren't selling as much fuel as they could if the system worked right."

Donley said he'd like to see Kovacs come up with a system of accountability for running the airport.

"We need someone to do that, and someone to monitor the monitor," Mayor Claude Brown agreed.

"When you go to a hotel, you go into the bathroom and there's a checklist of who's responsible for changing the paper and towels. I have confidence this won't happen again, but we need a system to operate the airport," Donley said.

The city has started the process of finding someone to operate a business at the airport, which would include providing basic maintenance, sales of accessories and oversight of the facility. However, Kovacs said, "We're months away from a contract operator."

"They don't have to be a pilot, just (do) the basic things: Are the lights working, is the fuel sumped every day? Not really a huge amount of work, but work that has to be done," Donley said, "They're accountable, and somebody makes sure they're doing that. It would be great to have an airport (fixed base operator) and an airport manager, but it can't wait. Before we get fuel in and have it for sale, we need to find out what was broken and get it fixed."

The council unanimously directed Kovacs "to establish a system of responsibility with safeguard checks on operation of the airport," but set no timeline for that system to be in place.